55 miles away, I skipped the bib pickup at San Francisco Running Company on Friday. I had planned to drive early but ended up getting at Rodeo Beach at 5:30 am and let's say I wasn't the first one to park, but it wasn't too bad. And there were already quite a few 50K runners in line to get their bib but the volunteers ended up getting the 50-milers to go first as we only had 30 minutes before the start.
It was still quite dark when we started at 6:30, I'm glad the Park Rangers actually pushed the start which was originally scheduled for 6 am. I decided to take the risk of not using a headlamp. A bit border line in the steep downhill after Hill 88 but enough light had rose once we hit Miwok, 3 miles in. And this is where my first trouble of the day started, dang! I had hesitated running in Brooks Grit (trail shoes) but I had checked with Gary Gellin who was marking part of the course on Friday and confirmed the trails were dry. I had checked the course succinctly and assumed that was going to be the traditional fire roads or groomed trail, except for the short Dipsea section. So I opted for a pair of Brooks Launch instead (road shoes). Except that I grabbed quite an old pair which I've used for trail running at our IBM site (Silicon Valley Lab) for a couple of years, and also for my successful Cool Moon 100-mile last year. With more than 1,000 km logged in them, I knew they were mature, but I had forgotten about a key detail: a hole in the outer sole/plate under the heel. As I was hammering down Miwok, passing 3 runners who were chatting, I had to switch to a very unusual stride for me, landing on my toes to avoid the sharp pain after a large pebble lodged itself in that hole and was hurting every time I was landing on my heel. I thought of stopping at the next aid station to get rid of it but, of course, on the next miles up to Conzelman, I wasn't putting too much weight on my heel, and I forgot about the pain so I decided to skip the stop, not to loose precious minutes.
On the way down to Tennessee, same thing, the rock wouldn't move, Actually, a few additional smaller pebbles even found their way around, in the shoe. Again, I didn't want to lose time so I didn't stop at Tennessee Valley either, as I was carrying two bottles and a handful of gels. I didn't know at that time, but from the splits, I was in 15th overall at Conzelman and 13th at Tennessee.
I kept the good pace up Tennessee Valley Trail, along with two other younger runners, one with poles. When I read 2 days before the race that poles were allowed, I thought "pff, who needs poles on the runnable fire roads of the Marin Headlands?" Well, read on, I was going to change my mind before the mid point... Anyway, I carefully followed them going down Pirate Cove, avoiding two falls after tripping, phew!
I passed one of these runners before Muir Beach so I was now in 11th place (again, without knowing it). And the big pebble was still hurting my heel in all the downhill sections. After running all the switchbacks of Heather Cutoff (phew!), I arrived at the Cardiac aid station just behind two other runners. This time I took 3 minutes to get all the pebbles off my right shoe and that big hole. Well, with all the rocks and dust on the trail, that only worked for a couple of miles but the first mile on that section of the legendary Dipsea trail felt like a bliss, the pain was gone. If only for a few minutes.
Maybe I wasn't drinking enough, or it was about the changed stride, my left hamstring started cramping in Steep Ravine, how convenient at mile 21, with 29 to go! I took an extra S!Caps and resumed running; it worked, phew! And I even caught another runner just before Willow Camp. Another with poles and who told be: "that must be the start of the big climb." Again, I had quickly checked the course and didn't notice we were going back up on Mount Tamalpais on a trail that I didn't know, Willow Camp Fire Road, which is more of a single track than a fire road. But more importantly, steep, as I know read in the course description: "Depart Stinson Beach with the 1,800′ of vertical gain in 1.8 miles on Willow Camp and traverse Mt. Tam along the single-track Coastal Trail, back to the top of Cardiac." Ouch, I was not at all mentally prepared for this, and completely disoriented to run on a new trail, after these 2 decades of racing in Marin Headlands. Now the poles were making much more sense, this section had some Alpine flavors!
I had stopped for a few minutes at the bottom of the hill, at Willow Camp, to refill my bottles and take some calories in, so it took me almost 2 miles to catch Darren Partyka again. Darren shared that he was mostly training for his upcoming Cocodona 250-mile in May, then Bad Water in July, and quite a few other key races before and in between, wow! We traded places until our return to the Cardiac aid station, where I left ahead as he stopped by the porta-potty.
After this big climb up to Cardiac, I really enjoyed another new trail for me, the TCC Trail. Slightly downhill, smooth, under the shade of the redwoods, a bliss! And because it was a gentle downhill, the new rock in my sole wasn't hurting too much. Well, short respite before we turned onto Bootjack Trail: yikes, I felt transported to the tricky section of French Trail on the other side of the Bay and my tired legs, plus my fear of falling after a few accidents (not to mention age for a change), stopped me in my track. It was super nice to descend along a running creek but I had hard time negotiating the high and irregular rocky steps, in between roots. I was just thinking of how fast I used to be in such technical sections, 30 and 20 years ago, and imagined the leaders flying down there. This time, it was a painful and slow hike down.
I got passed twice in that section, and 3 times in the next climb on Ben Johnson Trail. So long for breaking 9 hours, and I started thinking that even 10 hours were now out of reach. Yet, I clocked 9 minutes on the mile down on Deer Park fire road, to the Deer Park aid station. I got some ice in my bottles, down there, and a few slices of water melon (yummy!). Before the next climb, I realized I hadn't taken care of the rock in my sole so I stopped at the next creek to remove it. I was border cramping, someone would have had a good laugh at seeing me trying to tie my shoes... It took a few minutes...
While it was cool to get back on Miwok Trail, for the souvenirs of my 11 Miwok races, the climb and subsequent downhill to Muir Beach wasn't pleasant at all; I forced myself to keep jogging what I could, and power walk the rest, as there were still 10 miles to go after that aid station, including the last two climbs. After Muir Beach, I caught up with Max Kam from Excelsior, who also had a rough patch, after keeping up with the leaders in the first part of the race.
I was disappointed that Tennessee didn't have any ice, but encouraged seeing the sign indicating 4.6 miles to the finish, when my GPS was only showing 44.4 miles. There was that good news to rekindle my motivation, to the point that I managed to jog even a few uphill sections, and hammer down the last mile to the finish, despite the sharp pain in my heel at every other step.
I crossed the finish line in a time of 9:20:56. 6 seconds behind Guillaume Tremintin who, being used to see me finish ahead normally, turned to me, thinking that I had gotten back on the course to pace someone else. I only wish, I was just happy to be done, once and for all! ;-) And, yes, finishing 22nd overall, I had a bad day, but all things considered, I was still the first among the older 60+ guys. Now, granted, age isn't a great excuse: after his overall win last year, Jonah had only placed 2nd this time, in 7:35:04. First place was Reed Breuer in 7:18 this time.
I very rarely make a shoe selection mistake, but that was a good one. Well, a bad one although that didn't completely derailed my race, at least. To back this whole report up, here are a few pictures of that hole. Actually, in addition to the puncture in the midsole which existed before the race, the one in the insole/sockliner was new. What 50 miles would do to your feet, and 800+ miles to your shoes...
When I was driving back home, I was thinking that I'll stop there with illustrations, that there will likely not be anything to show beyond these holes. Well, my heel got quite a free 9-hour deep massage, but bruised pretty bad too... With a visual mark and proof... (and, no, it's not a patch of dirt, this is after a shower!)
A day has passed and it has been years since I've experienced such painful soreness in my quads and hamstrings so maybe that was a great training run after all. I mean, maybe that workout is going to contribute to rebuilding some muscle mass and strength. And mental. Less than 2 months before Quicksilver 100K, no time to waste!
Pacific Association wise, there were a few individuals from Excelsior, SRA Elite, Quicksilver, but I'm afraid Pamakids may be the only club raking any point in the team competitions. On one of the few 1.5-factor events of the year, no less!
What a course that was, such a spread across the majestic and grandiose Marin Headlands, similar to the span of the Miwok course, crossing several park administrations and juridictions. And all the gorgeous views, I would have taken more than a hundred pictures if I had run with my phone! The ocean, the bay, the beaches, the sun rise, the conga line of headlamps at the start, the redwoods, the grassy hills, a couple of snakes, the flowers, ... Short of pictures, the post is drier than usual. To make up for the lack of race-related pictures, I drove up to Point Bonita to catch a few views of the City by the Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the South part of the Marin Headlands overseeing SF.
Actually, as a bonus, here is a lone coyote which was completely unfazed by the crowd and traffic on his usually quiet playground, which I caught passing along the busy parking lot as I was leaving at 5 pm. (A Coyote in the Marin Headlands, that may trigger back memories of an interrupted 100-mile race in 2022 for some...)
Where the waters of the San Francisco Bay Area and Pacific Ocean meet, at Point Bonita (near the Potato Patch Shoal or, more officially, Four Fathom Bank)
The gorgeous green Marin Headlands
